The village of Veliköy, near Savşat, is a funny mix of dull concrete houses and lovely old wooden cabins that the owners probably think way too impractical for modern life.

Come here in winter to watch bouts of kar güreşi (snow wrestling), a sport otherwise known only in Switzerland. The wrestling takes place in January or February, and wrestlers come from all over Turkey but also from nearby Georgia too.

There is one dolmuş a day from Şavşat to Veliköy and on to the pension. It leaves mid-afternoon and returns very early in the morning (too early for breakfast) but times are often adversely affected by knock-on traffic problems caused by dam-building work near Artvin.